


One Cannot Conquer The World Alone

by LapsedPacifist



Series: This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us [1]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Financial Issues, Gen, Insensitive Asano
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 06:23:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14731616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LapsedPacifist/pseuds/LapsedPacifist
Summary: When Asano returned to Japan during holidays, he unexpectedly bumped into Akabane, who he hadn't seen since high school.Akabane, who was now apparently homeless and working three jobs.Just what on Earth had happened to him?





	One Cannot Conquer The World Alone

**Author's Note:**

> My dear people! These two idiots clearly need some incentive to hook up, so. Sharing an apartment should probably be good enough.

“This is… How did it come to this?” asked Gakushuu. He pretended his voice wasn’t faintly shaking.

But Akabane merely shook his head, ignoring that fact and the question: “Shit happens.”

“That’s no answer,” Gakushuu pointed out.

“Do you really want one?” asked him Akabane, his eyes still dull and uninterested. “You know you don’t have to show me any courtesy, and I know that that’s the only reason you’re asking.”

Gakushuu couldn’t believe what he was hearing: “Is it that hard to believe that I might care?”

Akabane let out a short, ugly laugh: “You don’t have to pretend. This? This is nothing. Besides, it’s me. Who gives a shit about me?”

“I have to agree with you on that last point, but disagree with the one before. _This_ is nothing? Akabane, you’re _homeless.”_ Gakushuu spat the last word out like the disgusting thing it was, barely noticing how Akabane turned his eyes downwards and avoided his gaze.

“I’m not,” still insisted Akabane.

“It’s ridiculous to lie,” snapped Gakushuu. “You won’t show me your apartment-”

“Because I don’t want you to know where I live!”

“-because you _don’t have one,_ Akabane. How… How did this happen? The last time we saw each other you were just accepted into Tōgyō University and were already planning on taking over a government branch or two. I even heard you had a very successful first semester. So what happened?”

Akabane stared pensively at the table in front of him. “Why are you even here,” he finally muttered after a couple of minutes spent in silence.

It didn’t sound like a question, but Gakushuu still chose to answer it.

“I’m on vacation,” he said, “and my father was most insistent about me visiting him.”

“So you two are finally back on speaking terms, huh,” commented Akabane. “That’s nice.”

“We’re trying to be civil to each other, but that doesn’t mean I appreciate it,” hissed Gakushuu.

“I gathered that,” said Akabane, obviously trying to placate him. “No need to bite my head off. Jeez, still so pissy, I see. You haven’t changed much.”

“Unlike you, you mean,” said Gakushuu. “You’ve fallen quite low. But I suppose it was to be expected, from such a useless piece of trash. Worthless scum like you never achieves anything.”

“That’s a bit harsh,” said Akabane. “And I thought we got along fairly well in the last year of high school.”

“That was two years ago, Akabane,” hissed Gakushuu again. “It’s different now. I might not want to kill you, but don’t think that I want to be friends with you.”

Friends? No way. And it really was different. He couldn’t explain it, but just the sight of Akabane sitting in front of him in those ratty clothes, with dark eye bags and dirty hands was enough for him to feel angry. Towards what exactly he wasn’t sure, he simply _was._ And yet there was also something else beside that anger, something much… _Warmer._ Something that didn’t want to jump over the table to punch Akabane in his pretty face until it was all bloody, something that didn’t want to drag the ugliest secrets from Akabane’s soul until he was crying on the floor, something that didn’t want to spill the hot coffee down Akabane’s neck and enjoy his screams of agony. No, this was different. Unknown. And that alone was enough to make it _dangerous._

Yet Gakushuu had no time to dwell on that. He was sitting in front of Akabane Karma. No matter how broken, it was still Akabane. And one could never truly let their guard down around that particular monster.

The person who this short crisis was all about, was thankfully completely unaware of it.

“Oh, so you don’t want to kiss me anymore. I get it, I get it,” Akabane said and fake sniffled.

Gakushuu felt like he had just missed an integral part of the conversation. And he hadn’t. He never did.

“What?” he asked, annoyed.

But Akabane merely shrugged: “You know. You not wanting to kill me… That was almost a proper love confession, don’t you think?”

“Don’t be absurd,” Gakushuu replied, dismissively waving with his hand. “You keep talking such nonsense and I will be forced to admit you into an institution. That brain damage has to be a serious problem for you.”

“Well, it is recent - unlike yours. That one has been around your whole life, huh,” said Akabane.

“That was not a smart retort. What, you losing your sharpness? I see that starvation can have quite serious side effects on your brain as well,” Gakushuu said, just to be mean.

But then Akabane flinched - a minuscule movement Gakushuu wouldn’t have noticed it if he wasn’t paying extreme attention and also knew Akabane quite well from before.

“Akabane!” he growled, a bit louder than strictly necessary. “Are you seriously so useless? What, you spend all your money on new games and can’t afford anything else? I knew you were an imbecile, but I never knew you were such a moron.”

“It’s not what you think,” mumbled Akabane almost too quietly to catch. But Gakushuu heard him.

“Huh?” Not very eloquent, but to be fair, he was pretty annoyed with Akabane right now.

“What, you really want my life story?” asked Akabane, sounding incredulous.

Gakushuu’s first instinct was to disdainfully decline, but then he remembered he was genuinely interested in what made Akabane, of all people, fall this far. He nodded.

Akabane rolled his eyes and leaned backwards. He took a deep breath and started with a monotone, lifeless voice: “My mom died, so dad had no reason to pretend he cared for me anymore. He threw all my stuff out and told me I wasn’t welcomed into the family house ever again. He immediately stopped paying for college and forced me to return all the money he had previously spent on me. Of course I didn’t have anywhere near the required amount, so I ended up here. Working three jobs, for the next seven years probably, until I can pay him off.”

Gakushuu couldn’t just believe that: “But surely you can challenge the legal decision?”

“He has money and a team of lawyers. I have neither,” Akabane said, shaking his head.

“But _seven years…”_ Gakushuu didn’t normally repeat pieces of conversation like a broken record, but this was an exception. Funny how Akabane was always an exception with him.

“I’m thinking of joining the army,” Akabane said, surprising him further. “That will cut it down to five, or something. And then at least I could do something useful for once. Not be so useless all the time. A waste of space. Damn it, I know that I’m worthless, but I at least wanted…” he trailed off, not finishing his thought.

“The army?” Gakushuu couldn’t believe his ears. Was this truly the great Akabane Karma from high school that always strived for the first place? The one that worked his ass off just so that he could later laugh in Gakushuu’s face? The one that let neither injustice nor bigotry happen, the one that had even Gakushuu’s Father complimenting his resilience? The one that, against all odds, Gakushuu didn’t - couldn’t - hate or despise, but begrudgingly respect?

 _This_ defeated person was the great Akabane Karma?

Akabane could definitely see the anger and the contempt in Gakushuu’s face and he frowned.

“It’s my life, you know,” he said. “I can do what I want.”

“Apparently not,” huffed Gakushuu, “since I can clearly see you are incapable of pulling yourself up from this rock bottom you hit. How does it feel, Akabane, to be at the _end_ again? But there’s no Korosensei to save you _this time.”_

Akabane masked his hurt look superbly, but not fast enough.

And now there was anger.

“It’s hard,” he hissed. “Who would have thought. But it’s still _my_ life, so keep your pretty nose out of it or you might lose it. Why are you even asking! You, Asano, you who _never_ had to face the hardships _we_ did. You, for whom the greatest failure was to be average and the greatest threat you ever had to face was a second place. You don’t get to come here and look down on me. You don’t get to mock me and despise me. Hate me all you want, but hate me for who I am, not what I did with my life. In the end, this was my choice. You don’t get to invalidate that with your contempt.”

Those eyes, filled with passion, were one of the most beautiful things Gakushuu had ever seen. He had noticed that a long time ago, still as a young teenager. Akabane Karma was… pretty. Well, he had been pretty, when they were small kids. Now, he was simply _hot._

Gakushuu hated himself for noticing that, for dragging his eyes over Akabane’s body. It irritated him to no end, but it also filled him with _want._

Because as much as he hated Akabane right now for what he had done, he had always admired Akabane’s sharp wits and the beautiful smile. It was just a shame that everything came in a package, together with Akabane’s a little less charming personality. That, Gakushuu could do without.

But now it was not time for reminiscing.

“You are truly stupid,” Gakushuu said and shook his head. “You chose this? Really? Shut up before you suffocate in your own bullshit. If you truly were doing things your way, you would not be spending your current life working three different jobs and with no home. You just don’t want to admit that you _failed._ Like you always do, don’t you.”

Gakushuu’s tone was flat. He knew that he sounded just like his Father. And yet, he felt it was necessary.

Akabane still stubbornly stared at him, his chin raised, not giving an inch, but also not saying anything.

“I had enough of you,” decided Gakushuu and stood up. “I won’t waste my time on the likes of you anymore. I don’t want to watch you self destruct in die in the trash you were pulled out of by us.”

With those final words he left, not looking behind him. Akabane could go stab himself for all he cared.

* * *

He did care, he realized four hours later, sitting on his bed and checking his luggage for the last time before his morning flight. An introspection was needed to help him realise what kind of a major fuck up he just had a hand in creating.

Well.

Nobody said he was smart _all_ the time. Except his Father, but he could go fuck himself.

Because that Akabane situation? That was solvable. Most of the poisonous things Gakushuu spat at Akabane were born from his own inability to help the situation, to remedy Akabane’s suffering, and Gakushuu’s knowledge of the said inability.

But now?

He realized it wasn’t all that black.

There was a light in the dark, a light previously unseen but that now shone like a spotlight.

He checked his watch. He had exactly seven hours and twenty minutes to convince Akabane to go with him to America.

Mission Impossible? Maybe.

But he still had to try.

And he hated to lose.

* * *

“I can’t,” said Akabane, dressed in an oversized uniform. What exactly it was for Gakushuu didn’t know nor really care. If all went like he wanted it to go, then it would soon be a thing of the past.

“Why,” demanded Gakushuu, if only so that he could tear down all arguments Akabane would build. Because he was coming with Gakushuu to America, it had been decided. Now there was only the question of whether he was doing that conscious or unconscious. Gakushuu didn’t exactly need his agreement.

“Because I have no money for the plane tickets-”

“That has been handled.”

“-because I don’t have a visa-”

“That’s currently being handled.”

“-because I have a job here and don’t know whether I will have a job there-”

“We can handle that.”

“-and because I don’t want to.”

“Well,” said Gakushuu, “you should really change that opinion of yours.”

“Shut up,” grumbled Akabane. “I’m not coming, and that’s it.”

“You are. Do you really want to stay here? In this…” and he paused, searching for a good word to describe his surroundings, didn’t find an appropriate one and gave up: “... this _shithole?”_

“That wasn’t very nice,” complained Akabane.

“Neither of us is,” told him Gakushuu. “Now come. You don’t need anything but your passport. And your phone, if you want to bring it.”

Akabane did pull out a pretty nice phone from his jacket, but a close look revealed how scrapped and old it really was.

“It doesn’t matter,” shrugged Gakushuu, and switched to English: _“Come with me. C’mon, Akabane, you know this isn’t for you.”_

His fluency had only improved in America, his previously strong accent was now barely there. Akabane, on the other hand, never really had problems with his spoken English and still spoke it really well, despite probably not having done so in a long time.

_“Give it up, Asano, you’re wasting your time.”_

_“And wouldn’t you know a lot about that!”_ Gakushuu snapped. He wasn’t really sure whether he was indicating that talking to Akabane was a waste of Gakushuu’s time or if Akabane simply wasted a lot of his own time. Which one it was mattered not. The fact remained that the hour of departure drew nearer and nearer and Akabane was no more amenable to Gakushuu’s ideas than he was before.

“Why are you even so desperate anyways?” asked Akabane, leaning closer to Gakushuu. He had a bad feeling about this, which was only enforced when Akabane purred into his ear: “I mean I know that people say intense hatred and love are two sides of the same coin, but you probably hadn’t messed them up now, have you.”

Gakushuu shoved him away, trying to hide his reaction to Akabane’s suddenly very low voice and the effect it had on him.

Yes, the attraction was there - purely physical, of course. Love? Was Akabane actually serious?

“Don’t delude yourself,” he scoffed. “You are worth neither.”

“Right,” agreed Akabane all too easily. “But you still haven’t answered my question, Asano. Why do you want _me_ to go with you?”

Gakushuu wasn’t so sure himself. He only knew that he hated the thought of Akabane living on the streets, surrounded by similar people, tasked with menial jobs. That brilliant mind, just rotting away?

“You are my opponent, are you not? I can hardly beat you in a fair fight when you are about to faint from malnourishment and sleep deprivation.”

That wasn’t a lie, but it also wasn’t even close to the whole truth.

And Akabane knew it. “Really,” he said, sounding very sceptical.

“Really,” confirmed Gakushuu. He didn’t know where the words were coming from, he simply had to say them: “I want to compete again. I want to fight you. I want to _improve,_ like I only do when you challenge me. You force me to push my limits, to do better, to go further! While everyone else is trying to touch the sky, you tell me to shoot for the moon and then we, together, reach for the stars. I have to use every weapon in my arsenal and then some to deal with you, which keeps them sharp and ready for everything. Dealing with you has prepared me for almost everything life can throw at me. Fighting you has taught me much more than the school, than even my Father. Please, Akabane, I want to go further! I want to do more! And I believe I can only do it if you are racing next to me. Because then I will use _everything_ to reach the target, the goal _first.”_

Did he actually say _please?_ To Akabane, of all people? Well, it was too late to take it back now. He could only hope the short speech worked and inspired Akabane to come along.

Because it truly was the truth, this time. Each and every word of it.

He needed Akabane.

And Akabane needed him.

* * *

“I will cut your throat if you wake me,” told him Akabane when he was preparing to go to sleep. The plane had just taken off and they would be sitting next to each other for more than fourteen hours. Thankfully, Akabane had apparently decided he would sleep through most of the journey, which pleased Gakushuu. Yes, he would be living with him now, but that didn’t mean he had to be at his side all the time.

Besides, they would both probably have a pretty heavy workload, which wouldn’t leave much time for human interaction - just the way Gakushuu preferred it.

And Akabane would hopefully calm down a bit, with time. But first, they had to buy him a new wardrobe. And a new computer. And a new smartphone. And books, and… There was so much to do that Gakushuu groaned. Why, exactly did he decide to ruin his life?

 _“Stop frowning,”_ murmured Akabane in broken French that he only learned in high school because he knew it was Gakushuu’s favourite language and he wanted to ruin it for him. _“I can see you doing that even with closed eyes.”_

 _“Stop butchering French,”_ told him Gakushuu.

_“You are annoying.”_

_“And you aren’t? I thought you were going to sleep.”_

“Ugh,” now groaned Akabane. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

“That was your suggestion!” snapped Gakushuu.

“Hush, Asano, I’m trying to sleep here, don’t you have any manners?”

“I will strangle you,” promised him Gakushuu.

But Akabane only smiled and closed his eyes.

The plane reached the adequate height, set on his way to America. The land of the poor and free, it was once called. Hopefully, it would accept Akabane in its arms and helped him onto his feet.

And if not? Well, Gakushuu has already done this much. He wasn’t going to quit just because someone threw a wrench into his plans. No, he would make this work.

And that was a promise.

**Author's Note:**

> there might even be a part two, about their actual life in the USA - but i cant guarantee anything


End file.
